Where's Bertie? After his sterling service in getting us through all those kilometres over the last 4 days, he got a day off today, so he's still sitting at the Aire in Guardia de Jaén.
Weather: Rain early on, followed by a day of sunny intervals, but with a cooling wind.
The sound of light rain was to be heard on Bertie's roof at 0630, but by the time I got up to make breakfast it had stopped and a peep out of the window as day broke suggested it wasn't going to be a bad day.
I was scheduled for a run today, but for someone who has spent the last few months in the flatlands, that wasn't going to be possible with the topography immediately surrounding us, so I went for a walk instead.
My intention had been to walk a loop which, at a glance at the map and without measuring, looked like it would be about 5km. So, up the hill behind Bertie I set, on (as I later found out) a local waymarked route called 'Ruta de San Cristóbal'.
Photos never do steepness justice. This was snapped mainly to give me a few seconds to recover.
Almost the same photo, taken from slightly further up, featuring the castle and the town. Bertie's in shot too.
From the higher vantage point, when I started getting views into different valleys and onto different plains, I couldn't help but notice that there's pretty much a monoculture going on around here, with olive trees as far as I could see in every direction.
Lots of olives.
At the point where I should have turned left back down the hill I opted to turn right, because: 1) it looked like the top of the hill wasn't far above me; 2) it looked like there was a chapel on the top; and 3) it had become apparent that my intended return route would have been on tarmac, making an out-and-back seem more appealing.
The chapel atop the hill (with a backdrop of masts)
In front of a chapel was an information board about the Ruta del San Cristóbal, giving its distance as 7.8km. I'd already covered around 3.3km, so it seemed entirely sensible to continue around the circuit, rather than retracing my steps, especially as the rest of the route was essentially downhill.
It took me past a cave (that stank of sheep poo), then over a scrambly bit...
...past a flock of sheep...
...and along some nice paths.
Whilst I didn't want to trash my quads and shins (neither of which are accustomed to hills at the moment), I considred bits of the route (the not-too-steep bits) to be runnable. I was being consciously careful on the rocky ground, but apparently my concentration lapsed when I saw that smooth tarmac was just ahead of me. I went headlong and met the ground with a crash. No significant harm was done (bruised elbow; bruised knee; bruised palms), but I did walk those final few steps to the tarmac.
On the final stretch back to Bertie I saw a woman walking up the road with a shopping bag that appeared to contain bread, so as soon as I got in, Mick nipped out to try to find the panaderia. That he did, returning not only with a fine looking loaf, but a treat too:
From this snap you wouldn't think anything of its size...
...but maybe this one shows off better how enormous it was.
With doughnut, coffee and a crossword despatched, off into town we went to see if we could find an eatery for lunch. We found a few, but none that was open. A subsequent Google search told us that they only open Friday to Sunday. Worth the outing, though, as it was a pleasant enough diversion to walk through the town.
They've erected statues of me and Mick!
Main square with obligatory gathering of men having a good old chinwag
Fountain of the day
This afternoon we nipped out again, to see what we could view up at the castle, which we had read is currently closed for restoration work. We suspect that status has been ongoing for some time (as in years), and there was no sign of active work. We walked around half of the perimeter, agreeing that it was a shame that we couldn't see more of what lies inside.
As for Bertie, he is no longer alone. When we returned from our walk around the town, two other vans had joined him (both also Hymers, one Dutch, the other Austrian). By the time we went out again this afternoon numbers had swelled to five, with a Spanish and a French van joining in the party.
Bonus snaps:
The view from Bertie's front bumper, taken this morning before the sun made its way over the hills.
Weather: Rain early on, followed by a day of sunny intervals, but with a cooling wind.
The sound of light rain was to be heard on Bertie's roof at 0630, but by the time I got up to make breakfast it had stopped and a peep out of the window as day broke suggested it wasn't going to be a bad day.
I was scheduled for a run today, but for someone who has spent the last few months in the flatlands, that wasn't going to be possible with the topography immediately surrounding us, so I went for a walk instead.
My intention had been to walk a loop which, at a glance at the map and without measuring, looked like it would be about 5km. So, up the hill behind Bertie I set, on (as I later found out) a local waymarked route called 'Ruta de San Cristóbal'.
From the higher vantage point, when I started getting views into different valleys and onto different plains, I couldn't help but notice that there's pretty much a monoculture going on around here, with olive trees as far as I could see in every direction.
At the point where I should have turned left back down the hill I opted to turn right, because: 1) it looked like the top of the hill wasn't far above me; 2) it looked like there was a chapel on the top; and 3) it had become apparent that my intended return route would have been on tarmac, making an out-and-back seem more appealing.
In front of a chapel was an information board about the Ruta del San Cristóbal, giving its distance as 7.8km. I'd already covered around 3.3km, so it seemed entirely sensible to continue around the circuit, rather than retracing my steps, especially as the rest of the route was essentially downhill.
Whilst I didn't want to trash my quads and shins (neither of which are accustomed to hills at the moment), I considred bits of the route (the not-too-steep bits) to be runnable. I was being consciously careful on the rocky ground, but apparently my concentration lapsed when I saw that smooth tarmac was just ahead of me. I went headlong and met the ground with a crash. No significant harm was done (bruised elbow; bruised knee; bruised palms), but I did walk those final few steps to the tarmac.
On the final stretch back to Bertie I saw a woman walking up the road with a shopping bag that appeared to contain bread, so as soon as I got in, Mick nipped out to try to find the panaderia. That he did, returning not only with a fine looking loaf, but a treat too:
...but maybe this one shows off better how enormous it was.
With doughnut, coffee and a crossword despatched, off into town we went to see if we could find an eatery for lunch. We found a few, but none that was open. A subsequent Google search told us that they only open Friday to Sunday. Worth the outing, though, as it was a pleasant enough diversion to walk through the town.
This afternoon we nipped out again, to see what we could view up at the castle, which we had read is currently closed for restoration work. We suspect that status has been ongoing for some time (as in years), and there was no sign of active work. We walked around half of the perimeter, agreeing that it was a shame that we couldn't see more of what lies inside.
As for Bertie, he is no longer alone. When we returned from our walk around the town, two other vans had joined him (both also Hymers, one Dutch, the other Austrian). By the time we went out again this afternoon numbers had swelled to five, with a Spanish and a French van joining in the party.
Bonus snaps:
Olive tree topiary
From Conrad:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/zsf21jy1mcc9nlw/mandgcafespainphotoshop.jpg?dl=0
Love it! Thank you - that started our day with a good chuckle.
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